Voters trust Harris on a number of issues. But is that what they'll vote on? - The Boston Globe

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

49% : Trump had a 45% to 37% advantage on immigration in October's poll, roughly in line with his edge in the September and August polling.
47% : "She outperforms Trump very significantly on understanding the needs of middle class and working families," said Molly Murphy, a Harris campaign pollster.
46% : The Harris campaign, in its own polling, finds that the Democratic nominee is competitive against Trump on the economy, and sees that as a reflection of how she's emphasized the middle class in her speeches and advertising.
43% : The Democratic nominee has called for $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, expanded tax breaks for parents, new benefits to encourage more start-ups, and the doubling of registered apprenticeships to bolster blue-collar work.
39% : Trump has a slight advantage over Harris on tariffs, and a bigger edge on immigration.
39% : But it also shows that Trump can no longer claim the economy as a relative strength for his candidacy, as it was when President Joe Biden was still in the race.
38% : The vice president leads Trump on abortion, election integrity, climate change, taxes for the middle class and management of natural disasters, according to the latest survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs.
36% : And it's an issue that was particularly important to GOP voters during their primaries earlier this year, with Trump pledging mass deportations of immigrants without authorized status.
35% : That suggests that Harris knows there's a greater advantage to attacking Trump than promoting policy.
32% : "Ads run by groups backing Harris have featured voters who ditched Trump because they saw him as caring more about tax cuts for billionaires than the middle class.
29% : Trump has leaned into his persona as a property tycoon.
26% : His aides would point to data suggesting that he bettered Trump on policy specifics, yet he still rated poorly on the economy due to the impact of inflation spiking in 2022 as well as doubts about his age.
21% : At the same time, while saying that inflation was bad, Trump said that illegal border crossings were a bigger issue than the economy.
19% : She's essentially split with Trump on several specific economic issues such as jobs and the cost of groceries and gasoline.
17% : "I think she's narrowed a lot of advantages that Trump had earlier in the year, but it seems like some of the attacks on her are taking a toll," said Patrick Ruffini, a Republican strategist who says that persuadable voters still appear to prefer Trump on issues like the economy and immigration.
16% : Trump has gone after Harris on various issues such as her 2019 call to ban fracking (which she has since disowned) and her willingness that same year to cut funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (she has since called for more funding on border security).

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